Although industries and utilities aren’t currently paying to release carbon pollution, we are all beginning to suffer from climate change impacts – from rising seas and stronger storm surges to changes in our agricultural resources – and the costs of these impacts is not included in the cost of burning fossil fuels, the main source of climate pollution.

We can reduce climate-changing pollution with existing clean energy technology, but we will need to be innovative in order to make the additional reductions that are necessary to stabilize our climate. In order to drive that innovation, our government needs to set strong goals, just as President Kennedy did when he challenged Americans to reach the moon within a decade. Strong long- and short-term pollution reduction targets are a start. But we need to make sure that we are rapidly deploying existing renewable energy technology and driving innovation for new clean energy solutions in addition to putting a limit (or a price) on how much climate pollution we can emit to ensure a hospitable world for our ourselves and future generations.